


If Nobody Belived in You

by I May Age Regress (shnuffeluv), TheGriefPolice



Series: Where I Come From [4]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Accidental Discovery of a Kink, Accidents, Chew Rings, Daddy!Ducky, Diapers, Fear of small spaces, Little!Katie, Little!Timmy, Little!Tony, Mentions of past abuse, Non-Sexual Age Play, Papa!Gibbs, Wetting, family but choice, fear of the dark, its all cool, pacifires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-08-13 08:46:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7970422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/I%20May%20Age%20Regress, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGriefPolice/pseuds/TheGriefPolice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony pulls Palmer down to the crime scene for help in a tight situation. Palmer, wanting to keep the agents off his back, begrudgingly agrees and ends up with a whole load of trouble after being bitten by a small animal. His little side comes out in the worst of ways, but Ducky is there to help.</p><p>"If Nobody Believed in You" -Joe Nickolus 2004</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so, not the best Summary ever, but hey, I tried. Wonderful colab between us that fulfills a lot of requests we'd recived after the last one! Enjoy!

“Palmer, what’re you doing?” Tony yelled from across the zoned-off crime scene. His face had that annoyed twist to it that said he had been waiting a little too long for something.

Palmer came out of the truck, the black body bag tucked under his arm as he struggled to get his left hand into one of the white latex gloves. “My gloves aren’t going on.” he grunted, pulling a little too hard and snapping the glove around the entrance.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Come on, Palmer. How long have you been an ME assistant?” He shook his head as the kid climbed back into the van and pulled out the box of gloves.

“Aren’t those Kate’s gloves?” McGee asked as Palmer climbed back out.

The young ME-to-be looked at the box and groaned. No wonder they weren’t fitting, they were a box of size small gloves. Tony snickered and Palmer crawled back into the truck, putting the box right where he’d found it and grabbing a pair from the box right next to it. This time, they actually went on his hands.

Tony started walking away, as McGee watched Palmer make his way back to the crime scene.

“Mister Palmer, it’s good to see you finally make an appearance.” Ducky said, looking up from where he’d already stuck a thermometer in the man’s kidney.

“Sorry, doctor. Didn’t think it’d take that long.” Palmer sat the body bag on the grass next to the man.

He looked to be late twenties, his hair shaved close to his scalp in regulation military style. He wore his Navy blues, two arrows on his collar, labeling him a Senior Petty Officer. It would have been damn-near a regular Marine funeral had it not been for the fact that the front of his suit was stained and looked almost purple from the large patch of dried blood. A hole tore the fabric apart on his left side, the bullet having left a sizeable hole as it took the man’s last breaths.

Ducky pulled the thermometer out once it beeped, reading it out loud. “Sixty-seven-point-twenty-eight. That means he’s been dead for--”

“About twelve hours.” Palmer finishes.

Ducky nodded and pulled over his clipboard, writing it down before handing it to his assistant. “Please take this to the truck. But do try to make it back quickly.”

“Yes’sir.” Palmer says, grabbing the papers and taking them, quickly, back to the van. 

The case didn’t seem all that difficult, but the fact that they had a dead officer and little evidence meant that everyone was a little on edge. Hence, why Tony had been messing with him. And McGee. And Kate. But, hey, what else was new?

When everything finally seemed to be over, body in the back of the truck and agents zipping up the last of the evidence bags, Palmer let out a small sigh. He couldn’t wait to get out of the sun and away from the agitated agents. Ducky had even noticed they seemed to be in a bad mood.

Palmer was in the back of the truck, filling out a few of the worksheets so that they wouldn’t have to be done later when Tony walked up to him.

“What’s your waist size, Gremlin?” He asked, eyeing the younger man.

Palmer looked at him skeptically. “I hardly see how this relates to the case.”

“Oh, but it does.” Tony snickered. “Now spill, what is it? Thirty? Twenty eight?”

Palmer glared, but answered all the same. “Thirty.”

Tony nodded his head, thinking. “How wide are your shoulders?”

“Tony, whatever this is about--”

“About two feet, then, right?” Tony answered, cutting him off.

Palmer sighed and nodded.

“Great, come here.” Tony waved behind his head, leading the younger man to the other two agents.

“Will he fit?” Kate asked, looking up from her PDA.

“He should.” Tony said, closing the distance and standing next to her.

Palmer felt like he was a fish in a bowl with the way everyone was looking at him. “Guys--”

“Alright, here’s the sitch, Gremlin. There’s a pipe drain a little down the hill. It’s about two and a half feet across. There’s no way any of us can fit, but you may be able to.”

“Guys, I’m really not comfortable in small spaces.” Palmer said, taking a few steps back.

“Oh, come on, Palmer.” Kate said. “We won’t let anything happen, okay? We just need to make sure there’s nothing in there and you’re the only one who’ll fit.”

Palmer squirmed a little on the spot and wracked his brain for a way out of this, but found none that would keep him in the agent’s good graces. He sighed and nodded reluctantly. “Fine.”

Tony clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s the spirit, Palmer! We got a flashlight for you right here. All you gotta do is get in there and look around.”

Palmer took the flashlight with a sigh. “Where is it?”

“Over here,” McGee said, pointing to the pipe opening. 

They walked towards it as a group, but once they got within five feet of it, the three agents stopped and left Palmer to walk the remaining distance on his own.

The ME assistant looked over his shoulder at the three faces as he kneeled down next to the opening. “You sure that none of you fit? It might be bigger than it looks.”

“Trust me, it’s not.” Kate huffed, kind of mad she didn’t fit. Damn boobs. 

Palmer nodded and crawled into the pipe, flashlight in his hand as he inched forward. Already, he felt like the walls were going to collapse if he breathed to hard. He swiped the flashlight’s beam across the pipe, but couldn’t see anything yet. He groaned miserably and crawled for another few experimental feet. The good news was that the top of the pipe held. The bad news was that he could barely move forward or backward without hitting one thing or another against the pipe. 

_Okay, keep calm…_ he thought to himself. _Think about anything else. Animals, you like animals. You used to work with animals. What was that one appointment with the iguana about back in med school? Something about it swallowing a toy truck, wasn’t it?_

It didn’t help a whole lot, and Palmer could feel his breathing shallow out, but it kept his mind off the nagging sensation that he was trapped.

“Good job, Palmer! You see anything?” A voice yelled from behind him. It sounded like Tony, but it could have been anyone at this point. His mind was racing too much to really take it into account. Was the pipe getting smaller?

“N-n-nothing!” Palmer stuttered back over his shoulder. “Wa-wait...there’s something shiny reflecting off the flashlight a few feet away! I’ll see if I can reach it…”

He pulled the hand not holding the flashlight out from under him with a grunt, reaching forward as he let his feet pedal to move him forward. Just as he was about to give up, his fingertips grazed something cool. He pushed forward a little more until his hand could wrap around the handle of a gun.

“I got a gun!” Palmer shouted. He could hear the words as they echoed down the pipe and to the agents.

“Good job! Now come on out so we can head back!” That was definitely a girl’s voice. So Kate was still there.

Palmer nodded and let out a breath. “Right. I got in, so I can get out…” he muttered to himself.

He started to move backward as best he could with both the flashlight and the gun, when he felt his pants snag on something. He let go of the flashlight to try and get whatever was stuck to his pants off, when his hand came into contact with something small, furry, and angry. He squeaked in surprise and felt something bite into his leg. He cried out, and tried to hit it with his knee, unsuccessfully. Now the pipe really felt too small and he couldn’t see what was attacking him. He could tell he was in huge trouble.

“Guys! There’s something living in here, and it isn’t me!” Palmer shouted out to the agents. He wiggled side to side to try and move back, but it just wasn’t working. He was stuck. Stuck in a small place with no flashlight and his leg hurt and it was small and cold as sweat formed from his struggle.

Now he was in for it. Not only could he not get out, he could feel little Jimmy panicking and trying to yell for help. If the team found out about this, he’d be a complete laughing stock! He tried to push the mind set away right as a large hand wrapped around his ankle, making him scream as it yanked on his leg. Suddenly, he was moving out of the pipe, gun still in hand, and a very angry raccoon was hissing at him from inside the pipe. As if this day couldn’t get any worse. Now he needed a rabies shot.

“Palmer, you okay, man?” McGee asked, holding out his hand to help the younger man up.

“Of course he’s okay, McGoo. He’s Palmer.” Tony said, slapping his shoulder. “Good job, gremlin.”

Palmer nailed him with a questioning look before Kate put a bag under his hand and told him to drop the gun. “That should make Gibbs a little happier.” she said, smiling at Palmer before walking off, the other agents following.

It was only a few minutes after the team left that Palmer realized he had to get back to the van as well, and tell Ducky what had happened. Man, Jimmy was closer to the front of his mind than he had first thought. And the shot wasn’t going to help any. He trudged back to the van where Ducky was waiting impatiently.

“Come on, Mister Palmer! The body won’t autopsy itself, you know!” Ducky exclaimed.

“Yes’sir!” Palmer said, walking a little faster now, though with a limp as his leg throbbed. 

When he jumped into the van, he turned to Ducky. “We’ll need to use the rabies vaccine we have back at autopsy,” he sighed.

Ducky winced in sympathy and started the van up. “All right, let’s be quick on the way back. The sooner you get that shot, the better.”

Palmer swallowed the growing lump in his throat. The ride back was far too short for his liking, and soon they were in autopsy laying the latest body on one of the tables. Palmer hopped up on one of the empty ones, rolling up his shirt sleeve and closed his eyes in anticipation of the needle. This was going to hurt. He never understood why they said it didn’t.

Ducky came up to the table Palmer was sitting on, needle poised in his fingers. He took an antiseptic wipe and used it to clean up the area he’d be sticking the needle in, and Palmer made the mistake of opening his eyes. He did turn an interesting shade of green, though. Ducky stuck the needle into Palmer’s arm and squeezed the plunger in one fluid motion, and Jimmy took over, bursting into hysteric tears.

"Now, really, Mister Palmer, it was just one shot, there's really no need for--oh." Ducky didn’t get to finish his thought before Jimmy had a growing dark spot on his jeans from pure fear.

Jimmy just couldn’t take it anymore. He’d been shoved in a small hole, bitten by a wild animal, picked on by the agents, stabbed by his friend, and now he was totally soaked. This was just the final straw.

“I-I-I w-wanna g-go ‘ome!” he wailed. “P-p’ease, I wanna go ‘ome!”

Ducky sat the syringe aside and pulled Jimmy into a hug, wrapping his arms around the young boy. “What’s all this about, now, huh?” he asked. “What has you so worked up, lad?”

Jimmy leaned into the embrace, burying his head into Ducky’s shoulder and he shook it. He was too caught up in crying to talk.

“That’s all right, lad. I can help with a few things, I think,” Ducky said. “There’s a spare set of clothes in your locker which you can change into from earlier, right? From before we went out to the scene. I’m not sure we have any nappies, however.”

“K-keep some under m-my clothes,” Jimmy muttered, embarrassed.

“Well, then it appears that we have the solution to _that_ problem,” Ducky said. “One less thing to cry about, yes? If you need to, I’m sure we can take the rest of the day off. I’ll call in an old friend who owes me a favor, and you can stay at my house until you feel better.”

Jimmy nodded and Ducky clucked his tongue. “You worked yourself up, didn’t you?” he asked.

“Mm-hm,” Jimmy hummed with a nod. He rubbed his eyes under his glasses. Nothing seemed more appealing to him right now than a nap.

“Now, I do have to let Abigail know that we won’t be here this afternoon, but that shouldn’t be a problem,” Ducky explained. “First, let’s get you changed.”

Jimmy nodded, wiping his nose with his hand and pushing off the table, onto the floor. Ducky tutted at the small puddle he left behind. “We’ll have to clean that up before we go. But we can save the boring stuff until later.”

Ducky took the boy’s hand, leading him to the small room where they kept their personal things. There were several lockers in the room but only two of them were in use. The older man opened Jimmy’s locker, rooting through it for a second before he pulled out everything he needed for a diaper change.

Had Jimmy been Palmer, he would have questioned the fact that Ducky seemed to know exactly what to do without being told or asking. How he could go through the motions of putting a diaper on an adult without so much as a flinch. But he wasn’t Palmer. Instead, he was Jimmy, a little boy that wanted nothing more than to be dry once more and take a nap.

When Jimmy was dry again, he looked in his locker and reached under his clothes before his hand wrapped around cold plastic, and he triumphantly pulled out a set of plastic keys on a ring.

“Oh, aren’t those just the cutest.” Ducky said playfully. He had already managed to call his friend and she was on her way now.

Jimmy shook them and gave a small grin at the noise they made. “I got them all by myself,” he said proudly.

“That’s very impressive.” Ducky said, picking up his phone so he could call down to the lab and inform Abby he wouldn’t be here much longer.

When Abby picked up the line, Ducky quickly and quietly explained the basics of what happened and how he would be going home. Abby offered to come with them to make sure Palmer was okay, but Ducky assured her he would be fine for now on his own. If she wanted to come over after work, she could, but she shouldn’t skip out on her job if she was capable of doing it. He said the last part sternly in his best fatherly tone, to make sure he got the point across.

Abby replied that it wouldn’t be a problem, and Ducky hung up. “Now, then, lad. Miss Abigail has been informed about our whereabouts, so I think now would be a good time to go home.”

“Home?” Jimmy asked uncertainly, shaking the keys and focusing on the moving colors and clacking sound they made.

“Well, my home at any rate. Don’t worry, Mother had to be moved into a nursing home because I couldn’t take care of her during the day. Meaning no one will bother you except me and anyone we might invite over,” Ducky explained.

Jimmy nodded, relieved that he wouldn’t be given strange looks. He hated when he got those. It made his stomach twist funny and he would feel sick. If that wasn’t going to be a problem, then he would be fine.

Once the sub ME got there and was given a quick run through of the case, Ducky grabbed Jimmy’s hand and led him to the elevator outside autopsy, heading to the ground floor. He walked Jimmy past the security guards without so much as a second glance, but paused in the parking lot when it occurred to him that he didn’t have any supplies to take care of a boy this young. But Gibbs might.

“Jimmy?” Ducky prompted the younger man.

Jimmy looked over, pausing in his playing with the keys. “Yeah?”

“Would it be alright if I made a phone call to Agent Gibbs and asked some advice of him? I wouldn’t tell him about you if you don’t want me to, but I want his opinion on a rather important question,” Ducky requested.

Jimmy focused on the keys in his hand. He didn’t want Gibbs to know what had happened to him, because he would almost certainly figure it out. But at the same time, if Ducky needed urgent advice then he shouldn’t be the one to stop an adult. He bit his lip and nodded. “Okay. But don’ tell him ‘bout me.”

Ducky nodded and patted Jimmy on the arm. “Thank you, lad. I won’t. My car is just over here, come on.”

Fingers flying across the keypad, Ducky called Gibbs and willed the man to pick up faster. “Yeah, Duck?” a voice finally asked from the other end.

Ducky sighed. “Jethro, I need your advice. I seem to have come across another little, about T-O-N-Y’s age. But I don’t have the first thing at my house to take care of him, and don’t even know where I would start! Anything I should pick up before I get him somewhere away from prying eyes?”

“First things first, Duck. Make sure he has some…” The sound of the man closing a door resonated through the receiver and his voice lowered a small amount. “Protection on.”

“I learned that one the hard way, I’m afraid,” Ducky said, tutting and starting to walk with Jimmy again. “He has some now, but not enough to last a long while, and I don’t know what he has in the way of preparations.” 

“Ask him about that first, he might have something. If not, go to the nearest pharmacy and go to the incontinence aisle. And make sure Palmer at least looks like an adult to the rest of the world if you bring him in with you for measurements,” Gibbs instructed.

Ducky sniffed once in a small laugh. “He won’t be pleased that you figured out it was him.”

“Who else would you honestly discover is a little, and a man, who is still alive while you’re down in autopsy?” Gibbs scoffed. “I can come over after work to help, if you want. And Tony would probably enjoy a playmate.”

“I’m not sure,” Ducky said, pulling his keys out of his pocket and sending a glance over to Jimmy, who didn’t seem to be paying attention to anything. “I don’t think he wants anyone to know.”

There was a sigh on the other end of the line. “Just like Tony,” Gibbs muttered. “Look, Duck, Abby is talking about coming over to your house tonight. _Someone_ is going to find out about him, and he’s going to find out about you two. Might as well let him know the whole family. It’s not like he would tattle.”

Ducky opened the car doors and let Jimmy inside, strapping the boy in and closing it before opening the driver’s door and getting inside himself. “That is true. I’ll talk about it with him, at least to warn him ahead of time. I doubt he’ll be eager to see everyone in this state, but if someone explains it to him, he would at least feel less anxious about it.”

“Alright, keep me posted, Duck. I’m sure the kids would love a new cousin.” Gibbs said, waiting for Ducky’s send off before hitting the end-call button.

Ducky slipped his phone back into his pocket, checking in the rearview mirror at his newest ward before he backed the car up and drove out of the parking garage. Ducky made sure to drive carefully, after all, he had a young one to be careful for in the backseat. The boy in question was quickly dozing off in the backseat, his eyelids drooping before he’d sit ramrod straight for a few seconds, his eyes alert, and then he’d start to drift off again.

Smiling to himself, Ducky hopped onto the interstate for the short drive back to his house. When he pulled into the driveway, Jimmy was fully asleep and leaning against the car door, so Ducky couldn’t open it without risk of Jimmy falling out. That was _not_ how he wanted to wake the young one up.

“Jimmy? Jimmy, my dear boy, we’re at my house. Wake up, lad,” Ducky coaxed.

“Hmmm?” Jimmy asked, stretching and yawning. He cracked his eyes open to the new surroundings, recognizing the house outside his window before he looked over to the older man in the front seat.

“What do you say we get you inside, hm?” Ducky smiled at him. When the boy nodded his head, Ducky opened the car door and walked over to Jimmy’s door, taking care to open it slowly.

Jimmy stepped out, grabbing his toy keys. Ducky realized he completely forgot to get some extra diapers for Jimmy, and he almost swore before remembering his company. “Let’s go inside, lad. I might need to go out and get you some extra nappies soon, but I want to get you used to my house first.”

“Mmm…‘kay,” Jimmy mumbled, as he let himself be led inside the house.

Immediately, Jimmy was hit with the smell of old books and furniture mixed with some kind of spice--cinnamon maybe? It smelled just like Ducky, himself. The whole house seemed to be decorated in older-style furniture, but without looking like they’d stepped back in time a hundred years.

“Since mother left, I’ve been able to update the house a little. Be more suited to, well, you’ll know soon enough.” Ducky said, leading the boy into the kitchen.

Jimmy sat down on a chair situated at the counter in the middle of the room, putting his keys on the table. It made an interesting noise, so he dropped them on the table to see how it would sound, and then slammed them on the counter. That was the noise he found the funniest, so he banged the keys against the counter a few times more.

Ducky held his hand between the keys and the counter, stopping the sound. “All right, lad, that’s quite enough.”

Jimmy looked up at the older man, eyes heating up quickly as they started to gloss over. He just wanted to play! “S-s-sorry...I won’ be such a baby ‘gain,” Jimmy whimpered, dropping the plastic keys onto the counter and pulling his hands into his lap.

Ducky was alarmed at this sudden change in behavior to say the least. “You’re not in trouble, lad. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t hurt yourself or the counter.”

Jimmy fiddled with his fingers in his lap for a few seconds, before he glanced longingly at the keys.

Duck picked them up, holding them out to the boy. “Go on. These are yours, yes?”

Jimmy looked up questioningly, before reaching a hand out and taking the keys back. He shook them once, twice, and looked up at Ducky questioningly. When he didn’t get a negative response, he gave them a harder shake and giggled. Some of the keys did little flips around the key ring, which he loved to watch. He shook them again, before sticking the ring in his mouth and beginning to chew on the toy.

Duck smiled, nodding his head in approval before he turned around, looking for something that might keep the boy occupied for a while. Just until he could get his hands on a few diapers. He knew Jimmy liked the keys, but one toy would only keep a child tame for so long. He thought to what toys Abby had that she wasn’t as attached to and would be safe for Jimmy. 

He realized she had a baby doll that she frequently let Tony play with, and it often got chew marks and saliva on it, so what was one more mouth? Now, where did she put it last?

Jimmy watched as Ducky ascended a flight of stairs, eyes following until the older man was out of sight. He knew he should stay where he was, but there were so many cool things in this house! He’d never noticed before, but everything looked like something he could play with. He dropped his feet to the floor and walked into the living room, sitting down in front of one of the large bookcases and pulling one of the books off.

Hey. That was kind of fun.

He pulled off another, giggling as the books hit the ground with a loud _thud_. Jimmy enjoyed each book’s sound, the bigger ones making the loudest noises, as he pulled each book from the shelves he could reach whilst still sitting on the floor. He was just moving to stand on his knees and reach a higher shelf when a shout boomed around behind him.

“ _James Palmer_!” Ducky yelled, appalled at the boy’s behavior. “What in the world are you doing?!”

Jimmy fell back onto his butt, the boisterous voice making his eyes gloss over once more. He looked around the floor at the many books flung open and bent from other books landing on their pages, each second making it harder to see clearly. 

He looked back up at Ducky innocently, pointing at the books. “Fun sound,” he said weakly.

Ducky just stared at him, trying to control his anger. Many of those books were first editions and signed copies.

Jimmy bit his lip and decided that if he was in trouble, he might as well be in it for a good reason. “I was havin’ fun,” he defended.

Ducky closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “James Palmer, come over here this instant.”

Jimmy realized this was his chance to stand his ground, and crossed his arms, shaking his head. He still couldn’t see clearly and his breathing was going funny again, but he ignored this in favor of the man standing behind him.

Ducky’s eyes sparked with anger. Face in a firm scowl and voice barely under a yell, he asked, “What did you just say?”

“I...I said no,” Jimmy asserted.

Ducky had to bite back a growl as he walked over and forced Jimmy to stand. “When I tell you to come over here, I expect you to listen to me, young man. Understood?”

Jimmy swallowed, but scowled. His silence spoke volumes, and he figured it was less babyish than bursting into tears. 

Ducky kept a firm grip on Jimmy’s arm as he dragged him back into the kitchen. Jimmy realized then he might have made a big mistake. The kitchen was where the wooden spoons and metal spatulas and so many other hard objects perfect for a spanking were kept.

He tried to squirm away, but Ducky’s grip was firm on his arm, letting him move around but not break free. “I-I-I’m s-so s-s-sorry, p’ease don’ hu-hurt me…” Jimmy pleaded desperately, stopping his squirming in favor of begging.

Ducky looked at the boy who was little more than a pleading bag of tears with large tear drops falling down his face and soaking the hem of his shirt. “My dear boy, what are you going on about?”

Jimmy squirmed on the spot, wondering if he had shared too much. “J-J-Joe tells R-Rebecca if I-I’ve been...been na-naughty and she’ll...she’ll…” his breathing kicked into high gear. “She’ll get the spoon, or the spatula, or worse!”

Ducky frowned. He had looked at Jimmy’s file; his parents names weren’t Joe or Rebecca, and he was an only child. “Who’re Joe and Rebecca, lad?”

“M-my f-f-foster parents,” Jimmy sobbed, voice breaking on the last word. He reached up to wipe at his eyes, trying to hide the fact that he was crying and failing miserably.

Ducky sucked in a breath through his teeth. On one hand, Jimmy definitely needed to be punished. On the other, this startling news made the older man want nothing more than to pick the boy up and whisk him away from the dangers of the world.

Seeing as neither looked like they would be possible (any punishment would lose it’s lesson in the boy’s state), Ducky settled on wrapping his arms around the boy’s torso and hugged him tightly. “What do you say we find you a coloring book, lad?” Ducky figured he could pick up the books himself, and he doubted most of them were seriously damaged, since the fall had been all of two feet. In the meantime, calming Jimmy down took precedence.

Jimmy looked at the older man in shock. “I’m not in trouble?”

“Oh, you are very much in trouble,” Ducky corrected. “But I need you calm before we do anything about it.”

Jimmy looked at the man like he’d just grown a second head.

“We’ll talk about what you’re going to do to make it up to me in a bit. So, how about a little coloring now?” Ducky stood, taking the boy’s weight with him as he walked towards the office where he kept a few coloring books and crayons for when Abby wanted to be with him while he was working.

Jimmy followed obediently, even when Ducky took him back to the living room and sat him on one of the overstuffed couches. Ducky pointed a finger at him. “You, young man, are to stay put. If you need anything at all, you let me know first. Are we clear?”

Jimmy nodded his head as Ducky walked back into the kitchen. He looked at the coloring book in front of him, a princess of some sort smiling back at him widely. The boy let out a sigh and pulled the book closer before picking a random page and a blue crayon and getting to work.


	2. Chapter 2

It was only when Ducky tapped him on the shoulder that he realized he was chewing on his keys once more, the picture almost done and the sun was lower in the sky through the windows. Jimmy looked up at Ducky, confused. “Wha’ happened?”

“It appears that you became engrossed in coloring, my dear boy. You have been sitting there for a good hour, at least.” Ducky smiled, sitting down on the couch.

Jimmy flushed and took the keys out of his mouth. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“It’s not a bad thing, lad,” Ducky said, putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “It helped me a lot. I found some extra nappies now, in case you need to be changed, and I was able to take an inventory of what food I have, to determine what dinner will be. You sitting here quietly and coloring was quite possibly the best thing you could have done.”

Jimmy gave a hesitant smile and turned back to the picture. “I’m almost done,” he said proudly.

Ducky smiled, and gave the boy’s shoulder a squeeze. “Can we talk about one thing quickly before you continue?”

Jimmy frowned and nodded. “Am I still in trouble?”

“Yes, though that’s not what this is about,” Ducky said. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Young Abigail insists on coming over after work to make sure you are, indeed, okay.”

Jimmy immediately shifted from content to concerned. “No! She can’t!” He shook his head. “I don’ wanna see her!”

Ducky sighed. This was going about as well as could be expected. “Jimmy, if you will listen to me for a moment, I can explain.” At the boy’s nod, he continued. “You are not the only one in the office with this specific… need. Abby and I often come here for dinner, and she will stay the night, as my eight-year-old daughter. 

“She won’t harm you, she won’t even spread a rumor about this. I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do to stop her from coming over. This is her home and it would not be right of me to force her to stay away. However, if you wish, you can be her younger brother for the night--perhaps longer. Would that make you feel better about the situation?”

Jimmy looked out the window in the living room, considering his options. It _would_ make him feel better to be part of the family if Abby was going to come over. Abby was always super cool, but he was so used to being alone when he aged down. Even being with Ducky felt strange, let alone a hyperactive Abby who would have had about a gallon of Caf-Pow, minimum, running through her system by the time she came over.

“O-okay, but Abby has to be gentle,” Jimmy said, making sure to emphasize the condition. “I don’ wanna be squeezed so tight I can’t breathe.”

Ducky smiled. “If that’s your only condition, I’m sure we can make this situation work. Now, I should warn you if you’re going to be part of the family, that we do have ex--” A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. “Oh, that must be Abby now. I’ll warn her to be gentle.”

Ducky walked out of the living room and back into the foyer, Jimmy’s eyes following him as the older man opened the large door. “Abby, dear. How are you?”

Abby grinned and threw her arms around Ducky in a hug. “Glad to be home!” she exclaimed. “How’s Jimmy feeling?”

“Better now, I believe. But do be gentle with him. He did not come out of his childhood as unscathed as you or I,” Ducky explained.

Abby nodded seriously. “I will. Is he in the living room, then?”

Ducky nodded and took a step back, allowing Abby to step inside and pad her way to a stock-still Jimmy.

The boy tried--and failed--to swallow the lump in his throat at Abby’s voice, but his panic picked up as the woman made her way into the room, a smile pulling at her face as she greeted him.

“Hey, Jimmy! How are you?”

Jimmy sucked in a breath and attempted to force words out of his throat. “I-I...I’m...okay…?”

Abby grinned and sat on the couch next to him. “So, are you gonna play with me and Ducky tonight?”

The boy nodded, one hand twisting around the keys he desperately wanted to stick back into his mouth.

Abby looked like she wanted to hug him tight, but settled for grabbing his free hand and giving it a squeeze. “Good, I’m glad! Everyone needs someone to help them when they need it.”

Jimmy looked at her skeptically. Being a baby was not okay, and it was even worse when he needed someone else to take care of him.

Abby turned around, facing the doctor once more. “Hey, is it okay if I play too! I’ve never had a little brother like this before! Luca never liked playing with me, and he was only a year younger than me!”

“I would expect nothing less,” Ducky laughed as Abby smiled and cheered, pigtails bouncing behind her. “From what I can tell, you were one of those children who would constantly be in trouble.”

“Duh. Being a goody-two-shoes is no fun!” Abby smiled, making her way up the stairs and into her room.

Jimmy looked over at Ducky once Abby left. “What’s she doin’?” he asked quietly.

“I imagine she is changing into her pajamas to celebrate the occasion,” Ducky chuckled. “She’ll use any excuse to put on her favorite pair of...mLarry Spotter pajamas.”

“Dad! It’s Harry Potter! We’ve gone over this!” Abby yelled as she ran back down the stairs. Her shirt featured a drawn-on button-up shirt with a green striped tie and a cloak with the same green stripes on the lapels. “I thought you liked the system behind the magic in it!”

“Magic isn’t real!” Jimmy said from the couch, keys flying to his mouth as both pairs of eyes landed on him.

“It is in the book!” Abby defended.

Jimmy shook his head in disagreement. “No! It’s never real, not even books! That’s what Joe said! Books are just a bunch of lies, unless they’re those textbooks you get in school!”

Abby and Ducky shared a look before Abby plopped down on the couch next to Jimmy. “Well, I don’t know who this Joe guy is, but he was wrong! Magic is real in Harry Potter, and Harry is a kid who goes to school at Hogwarts, where you learn magic! Except, he’s a Gryffindor and they stole the house competition out from under the Slytherin’s noses the first year he was there, so I kinda don’t like him for that. But overall he’s actually really good!”

“You don’ learn about magic in school.” Jimmy replied skeptically.

“Well, you do in Harry Potter. And they have lots of friends and are always causing problems but they’re always able to defeat Voldemort in the end.” Abby smiled.

Jimmy wrinkled his nose. “It sounds really fake.”

Abby pouted. “C’mon, you’re not even giving it a chance!”

Ducky was prepared to break up an argument he was sure was about to form, but was saved by another knock at the door. “Funny, I wasn’t expecting anyone else. Did you invite anyone over, Abigail?”

Abby shook her head. “Nope.”

Jimmy whimpered and Ducky attempted to placate the boy. “I’m sure that it’s just some salesman or another,” he dismissed. “The only other people who would come over here are the rest of the team, and that’s highly unlikely.”

Ducky made his way to the door once more, looking through the peephole to see the top of Gibbs’s head as he leaned over for something. “Jethro?” he asked when the door was opened.

“Hey Duck,” Gibbs smiled, Tony perched on his hip. “How’s the kid feeling? Better?”

Ducky smiled. “He seems to be doing better. How about young Anthony?”

Tony smiled at the use of his name, waving with one hand and sucking slightly on the pacifier held firmly between his lips.

“Jethro, not to sound rude, but what are you doing here?” Ducky asked. “The last I recall, I told you that young Mister Palmer didn’t want anyone knowing who he was at this point in time?”

“Tony felt bad for asking him to get in the pipe to get the weapon today, and wanted to make sure he was all right. Word travelled fast about the both of you leaving work early,” Gibbs explained.

“We really didn’t mean to scare him.” Katie said, appearing from behind Gibbs. “He really was the smallest one and we couldn’t squeeze into it.”

“But we not check an’ see he was okay afterwar’,” Timmy mumbled, standing on Gibbs’ other side. “An’ that wasn’t very nice of us…”

“Is that what happened today?” Ducky asked, looking to Gibbs and then over his shoulder. “That does explain how this all happened.”

“That’s what they’re saying happened.” Gibbs sighed. Even as adults, they had a trouble-making streak a mile long.

Ducky glanced inside to see Abby standing behind him. “Jimmy heard the voices and ran to hide somewhere,” she whispered. “Probably somewhere down here since I didn’t hear footsteps on the stairs, but I don’t know where he is.”

“Oh my,” Ducky sighed, then opened the door wider. “Come in, no sense in making you freeze outside all night.”

When the team was standing in the entryway, save for Jimmy, Ducky looked over to Gibbs. “Could you watch the younger ones while I take Abigail and Katie to look for Jimmy? My eyesight is not what it used to be.”

“I think they can keep each other entertained for a short while if you need my help, Duck.” Gibbs said, knowing it was a lie but wanting to help any way he could. He’d been through this part many times.

“Much as I appreciate that, Jethro, the best thing you can do is make sure Anthony and Timothy don’t hurt themselves,” Ducky replied. “Who knows what they might get into on their own?” Now that he was thinking about it, many things in his house were not safe for young children. Abby was old enough to know what was unsafe to play with or get into. But Jimmy…Who knows what he may find.

“Caitlin, Abigail, do you think you can help me find Jimmy?” Ducky asked. “We must do it quickly, but be sure to let me know where he is before you do anything to bring him out, understood?”

Abby and Katie nodded, and the three swiftly moved from the front of the house to the back on the ground floor, searching every place they could think of. Either they were losing their touch at hide-and-seek, or Jimmy was a crazy contortionist. Nowhere they searched proved to show any sign of him. Ducky felt a dread form in the pit of his stomach as he realized he may not have heard the back door open and shut. Jimmy could be outside by now, in someone else’s yard with who-knows-what lying around to hurt him.

It was only the sound of Abby’s voice yelling, “I think I found him!” that pulled the man out of his thoughts.

Ducky followed the voice into his office where Abby stood by the large, solid oak desk. She pointed with one finger to the desk, then backed up a few feet to let the older man through. Ducky walked around the desk to find Jimmy sitting in the leg space, sucking on the keys and trembling.

“Jimmy?” Ducky asked softly. “Are you feeling sick, lad?”

Jimmy nodded his head because, yeah, his stomach was all twisted and left a bad taste in his mouth and his chest really hurt.

“Well, why don’t you come out and we’ll see what we can do about it?” Ducky stuck out his hand slowly with the offer.

The idea made Jimmy’s chest hurt more. No, if he came out, Gibbs and Tony and Kate and _everyone_ would know what he did and that he couldn’t always be a big person and he’d get hurt! Just the thought of it made his bladder release, a little urine falling into his diaper. He whined and shook his head, clamping his legs together as another burst followed soon after. If he wet his pants, it would be even worse and he really didn’t want that. But his bladder didn’t seem to care and, soon enough, it was struggling to hold in the fluid.

Arms were wrapped around him tightly and he was being rocked gently back and forth with the soft voice of someone shushing him as he cried. His bladder decided enough was enough and finished its business. Jimmy blushed bright red knowing everyone would notice and know that he really was a baby, and he would get kicked off the team quietly if he was _lucky_. 

He didn’t want to lose the team. Sure, they picked on him a lot, but they were his family. Ducky especially. But no one would want to be around him after this. He’d lose it all and it would all be his own fault. His stomach twisted and a lump formed in his throat, and he started to dry heave from the strength of his crying. There was shuffling, and suddenly there was a wastebin sitting next to him, just in case.

“Easy, lad, take deep breaths with me, can you do that? In and out on a count of four,” Ducky instructed. “There are many different breathing patterns one can choose from to regulate proper ventilation to one’s lungs, ranging from counts of four to seven to eleven, did you know that? I personally prefer counts of four because it is reminiscent of sheet music, in four-four time, also known as Common Time…”

Jimmy focused on Ducky’s voice to the best of his ability, even if the words washed over him for the most part. Between the rocking, the voices, and the fact that the team hadn’t yet seen him like this, he was feeling mostly okay. Better than he had before, at any rate.

“There we go,” Ducky said softly, doing a pattern of rubbing and patting on the boy’s back as gently as he could with still touching him. “You had us all worried, lad. Don’t do that again.”

Jimmy nodded seriously. “I’ll try an’ remember,” he promised. “I won’ run an’ hide unless you know mostly where I am, like in hide and seek.”

“I love hide-and-seek!” Abby cheered, coming around the desk and sitting across from Ducky, giving both males a small heart attack. “We can play any time you want to!”

“Abby,” Ducky warned. He had told the girl to stay back until he said it was okay, but, much like normal, she hadn’t listened.

“And Timmy and Katie can play too!” she went on. “Tony can sometimes, but he doesn’t always feel up to it. He’s always the first to be found when he plays, though.”

Jimmy’s breathing picked up at the thought of the team, though not as much as it had before, and he counted out his breaths to calm down.

“I heard somethin’ ‘bout hide-an’-seek!” Timmy cheered, running into the room. The moment he saw Ducky’s face, though, he ran back around the desk and hid on the other side. Ducky was nice, but he could make some mean-looking faces when he meant business.

Jimmy frowned and turned around to try and see where Timmy’s voice had come from. That hadn’t sounded like Agent McGee at all. He looked over to Ducky, hoping the man could explain what was going on, but Jimmy was having issues with finding the right words for his question.

“Was that Tim?” he finally settled on.

“He likes to be called Timmy,” Abby corrected. “And yeah!”

Jimmy felt a small amount of hope at what Abby said. If Tim--or more, Timmy--ageplayed as well, then he might not be in as much trouble as he originally thought.

“Katie and Tony are here, too!” Timmy smiled, on his knees as he peered around the corner of the desk. Ducky didn’t look so mad anymore, so it must be okay now.

Jimmy felt the hope grow, and, unlike how he usually reacted, he let it. Maybe, just maybe… he might be able to be Jimmy and Palmer without any serious problems. He shook his head to see if the feeling would go away, but it didn’t. Instead, when he opened his eyes, Timmy’s smiling face was right in front of his.

“Hi, I’m Timmy, and I’m five. How old are you?” Timmy asked, sticking out his hand.

“I’m Jimmy. I’m this many,” Jimmy said, holding up two fingers and then taking the offered hand carefully and moving it once up and down.

“D’you wanna meet my brother and sister?” Timmy offered. “And maybe Papa too? I promise he doesn’t bite, even if he sometimes looks mean.”

Jimmy shrugged, and then nodded. He had nothing better to do, and his legs were starting to hurt from hiding under the desk. The four people in the room moved away from the desk and stood. Jimmy’s legs were wobbly, legs kept apart from the wet padding, but Ducky kept him from falling over.

“I think that before we introduce Jimmy to his cousins, he should probably be changed,” Ducky said knowingly.

Jimmy blushed, red splotches appearing across his face as he looked down, keys placed right back in his mouth. “Sor’y.”

“That’s what the diapers are for, though!” Timmy pointed out. “Everyone here knows, but you can’t tell anyone else what I’m about to tell you: I wet the bed, so Papa makes me wear ‘em at night. And if I wake up wet in the morning, he just tells me that’s why I wear a Pull-Up and makes sure that I’m changed quickly.”

Timmy looked up at Ducky’s smiling face, and grinned back. “Right, Uncle Ducky?”

Ducky nodded his head. “Very right, Timothy.”

“Yeah, even I use them sometimes!” Abby said, standing back up. “Though not much. I like being older!”

Jimmy looked at Abby, awestruck at this new revelation. “R-really?” he asked.

Ducky nodded. “She does. Now, let’s get you changed and then you can play with the others, hm?”

Jimmy nodded his head excitedly. He kind of wanted to see everyone like this. Especially if they were all like him.

Ducky lead him up the stairs to a part of the house he had not yet seen. The hallway floor had a long carpet that matched the walls leading all the way down to a sitting area on the other side of the house with bookshelves everywhere but on the windows. Jimmy followed the older man into a room two down and on the right, surprised at the sudden pink that seemed to tear off the walls and slap him on the face.

It was just the base coat of the wall, though, Jimmy realized as they stepped into the room. All of the walls were covered in posters ranging from kid’s TV to older bands Jimmy only faintly recognized. Ducky walked over to the bed, a quilt made with purple and gray fabric and patterns covering the mattress as the man reached under the silver frame and pulled out a box.

“These should do until we are able to get a room set up with your own supplies.” Ducky said as he stood back up, taking the box over to Jimmy. “I know they’re a little girly, but they do the job all the same and they’re just about your size.”

Jimmy blushed as he saw the pink stars dancing on the front of the diaper, but sighed his consent. _Better than wetting your pants_ he thought.

Ducky had the boy lay down and went through the process of changing him quickly, only looking up as a soft knock came through the door.

“Hey, Duck,” Gibbs’s voice said softly. “I have something Jimmy may want to try on. It’s one of Tony’s, but it would work for tonight until he gets his own.”

“That’s very kind of you, Jethro.” Ducky smiled, standing up and opening the door. Gibbs held out a plain white onesie, passing it to the older man. “I believe it will work just fine. Thank you.”

Gibbs nodded his head, waving fingers towards Jimmy as he sat on the floor with the colorful array of keys logged in his mouth.

Ducky closed the door once more and held the onesie over Jimmy’s body. “A little big, but no problem for just one night. What do you think?”

Jimmy looked up, heart soaring as everyone continued to mention him getting his own things. He wasn’t able to do that himself, the keys and a few diapers the only things he could scrape the money up for after med school. But getting his own _room_ full of stuff like Abby seemed like a foreign idea.


	3. Chapter 3

Once Ducky had him in the onesie that hung a little loose, but otherwise did it’s job, he carried the boy back down the stairs and into the living room where Gibbs sat with the other four kids. Tony seemed half asleep as his head rested on Gibbs’s shoulder, but he perked up quickly once Jimmy came in.

Jimmy, on the other hand, had his head tucked safely into the nook between Ducky’s head and shoulders, hiding away from all the eyes. Tony got on the floor and crawled over to where Ducky was standing, staring up at Jimmy. “Do you wanna play with me?” he offered. “Uncle Ducky has some good blocks, and Katie brought them out a minute ago.”

Ducky placed Jimmy on the floor and turned to Katie and Abby. “Girls, do you want to help make dinner? I could use the extra hands and I imagine Jethro will have his hands full with the younger ones.”

Abby and Katie nodded and the three left for the kitchen. Timmy, Tony, and Jimmy grabbed some of the blocks from the box they came in and started building towers in no particular direction. Timmy got an evil glint in his eye as he realized that Gibbs was reading the paper, so he wouldn’t notice the boy pulling the wool over Jimmy’s eyes.

“Hey, Jimmy. Wanna hear something Tony told me about earlier today?” Timmy offered.

Tony glanced at his brother. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea…” but Timmy shushed him.

Jimmy looked up and nodded. “Sure…”

“Did you know that if your hand is bigger than your face, it’s a sign of low intelligence?” Timmy asked, trying not to giggle.

Jimmy blinked and brought his hand up to his face, and Timmy promptly smacked the younger boy’s hand, shoving it into Jimmy’s nose. “Ha! Gotcha!”

To everyone’s horror, when Jimmy lowered his hand there was a small trail of blood running from his nose. Gibbs put down the paper and stared when the boys went quiet. Jimmy turned and looked at Gibbs, and Gibbs calmly stared back, willing Jimmy to tip one way or the other in his reaction. Jimmy’s eyes welled up with tears, and began to cry loudly, the sight of blood on his hand and the unexpected pain making him bawl harder with every shaky intake of breath.

Gibbs swiftly walked over and picked Jimmy up, bouncing him and rubbing circles on his back. “Hey, you’re okay, buddy, it’s all going to be okay. I know it hurts now, but you’ll be fine.” 

Over Jimmy’s shoulder, Gibbs shot a look to Timmy, saying he was very much in trouble for his actions. He tried his best to clean up the blood before it could stain anything, but it was no easy task when the red fluid mixed with snot and tears. With a sigh, Gibbs sacrificed his shirt as he wiped at Jimmy’s nose.

Ducky walked into the room to investigate the source of the crying and was surprised and more than a little unpleased when he found Jimmy to be the source with a bloody nose. “Timmy, I thought we had been over how you don’t hit other people,” he said sternly.

Timmy looked up at Ducky, shocked. “How did you know I did it?!”

“Besides your guilty expression and the fact you just admitted it?” Ducky asked sternly. 

Timmy bit his lip and looked down at the ground. “Am I gonna get the belt for this?” he asked quietly.

“No,” Gibbs was quick to reassure him. “But I think that some time in the corner is in order for you.”

Timmy nodded. He wasn’t sure how he wasn’t getting the belt, but he wouldn’t question it.

Ducky picked the boy up by the arm and moved him to the far corner of the living room, away from all the toys and books Timmy might find interesting. “You will stay here until dinner is done, or until your papa and I can agree that you’ve learned your lesson, and then you will apologize to Jimmy. Understood, young man?”

Timmy nodded again, not able to look Ducky in the eye. The older man turned and went to calm Jimmy before taking his leave and walking into the kitchen. 

Jimmy continued to cry after Ducky left, a little quieter than before. The tears were more because he was shocked Timmy would do something like that than because it actually hurt. 

Gibbs bounced him slightly on his knee, continuing to shush the boy. “Hey, Jimmy, it’s all right,” Gibbs murmured. “Timmy didn’t mean to hurt you, I promise. He doesn’t think of the consequences of his actions, sometimes. He hit you because it didn’t occur to him you might get hurt, not because he wanted to hurt you. Understand?”

Jimmy nodded. It made sense. Sometimes he forgot to think about how people might react to what he said. That was why Gibbs would head-slap him for his poorly-timed jokes.

“I don’ want him t’be in trouble,” Jimmy said. “He didn’ mean to hurt me, so he shouldn’ be in trouble.”

“He needs to learn that hitting someone is never okay, Jimmy,” Gibbs explained. “That’s why he has to stay in the corner. And I don’t want to see you going over there to talk to him, okay? The whole point of corner time is to think about what you’ve done and make better choices.”

Jimmy nodded seriously, sniffing once before the tears stopped. “Down?” he asked.

Gibbs set him on the floor next to Tony. “Remember, leave Timmy alone, okay? I’ll be watching.”

Jimmy and Tony went back to the blocks and began stacking them as high as they could before knocking them down and laughing. “‘M glad I have someone to play with,” Tony said. “Everyone says that I’m too little to play with anything fun.”

“I think this is fun,” Jimmy replied.

“Me too,” Tony said. “But Timmy and Katie and Abby don’t.”

Jimmy shrugged. “Their loss.”

Tony laughed, rolling his head back. “That's what I told them! Katie and Timmy didn't believe me!”

Jimmy smiled. “Let the big kids not believe us. If we think it’s fun, then it’s fun! And that’s what really matters!”

They played for a little longer, laughing as the tower fell before it could be fully formed. When they started on it again, Tony looked up with a questioning look in his eyes.

“Hey Jimmy, are you gonna play with us from now on?” he asked, head tilted to the right in thought.

Jimmy worried his upper lip with his teeth. “I-If you guys let me, I’d really really like to.”

Before Tony could respond with more than a smile, Timmy whined from the corner, apparently unable to hear their conversation--or just unwilling to join in--as he spoke directly to Gibbs. “Papa, can I come out now?”

Gibbs looked up to Timmy and shook his head. “Uncle Ducky said that you will stay there until dinner is ready, and that’s what you’ll do. Uncle Ducky’s house; Uncle Ducky’s rules, and I will not be the one to ignore them.”

Timmy pouted. “But I wanna play! And I wanna tell Jimmy that I didn’t mean’ta hurt him!”

“Well, you can do that after dinner, or the next time you get to play with him. Right now, you have to know that hitting anyone--on accident or on purpose-- is bad,” Gibbs said patiently. “And standing in the corner is how you’re going to learn that.”

“But--”

“Timmy,” Gibbs said in warning, cutting the boy off. “One more word out of you before you’re called out of the corner and you won’t get to play after dinner, either.”

Timmy scowled but didn’t say anything else, and Tony and Jimmy went back to playing after waiting a minute to see if Timmy would protest more. They continued to play until Abby bounced into the room. 

“Dinner is ready!” she announced. “And Timmy can come out from the corner and play after dinner--if that’s okay with you, Uncle Gibbs.”

Gibbs nodded. “Come on, you three, time to eat.”

All of them walked into the dining room and took their seats, Katie setting the table while Ducky served up the spaghetti he had made, though without any meatballs, which Tony said was a “trag’dy.” Tony and Jimmy sat next to Gibbs and Ducky, respectively. Tony because Gibbs wanted to make sure Tony wouldn’t fling any food, and Jimmy because he simply felt most comfortable next to Ducky.

“So, wait, how did you find out about Jimmy, Uncle Ducky?” Katie asked.

Abby turned her head first to Katie then to Ducky. “Hey, that’s a good question! You didn’t give me the full explanation, Dad! What did happen?”

Ducky coughed and mulled over his words. “Well...it was rather...unexpected, first and foremost. Apparently, Jimmy here doesn’t like needles almost as much as he doesn’t like small spaces. Ironic, considering he’s a mild diabetic. He should have been desensitized to the fear ages ago in my opinion, but I digress. One rabies shot and a panic attack later, here we are.”

“That’s not an explanation,” Abby said, narrowing her eyes.

“No, well, that’s Jimmy’s story to share,” Ducky said. “And if he doesn’t want to share it, then we should all respect that.” He looked pointedly at Abby as he finished that sentence.

Abby sighed and went back to eating. “I’ll find out,” she vowed to no one in particular.

“So, Abby, did you see the new Harry Potter movie?” Katie asked, aiming to change the subject.

“Oh, yeah! It was _so_ good!” Abby exclaimed. “I loved _The Chamber of Secrets_! I wish they showed a little more of what was in the book in the movie, though…” 

“I thought the movie was dead on.” Katie said, brow crunched in the middle. “Everything happened in the same basic way.”

“Yeah, the same _basic_ way! Not the exact same way! Call me a purist, but I want the movies to be the same as the books, so people who can’t read the books get the same experience!” Abby explained.

“But then, people who have read the books are just getting the same story twice! What's the fun in that!” Katie retorted, face serious over the subject.

“Have you never reread a book because you enjoyed it?” Abby asked.

“No, because I never forget a story worth reading twice!” Katie’s hand was off her fork as she spoke, looking around the table for support.

“Well, there’s your problem!” Abby explained, dropping her fork halfway to her mouth and gesturing wildly. “Rereading is half the fun! Watching the story unfold, the tensions rise, noticing things you didn’t the first time around...you never got to understand why that is so important!”

“Or I could read a new book instead of the same one!” Katie closed her eyes in frustration. “That way I could have even more stories unfold and tensions rise and fall!”

The boys at the table were watching the argument attentively, like a tennis match. Ducky and Gibbs were shooting each other looks, wondering how far this would go.

“I’ll prove you wrong!” Abby exclaimed. “I dare you to reread a story you love and tell me that you would have rather read a new one after!”

“I'll take you up on that! But whoever’s right owes the other person a toy!” Katie said, finger stuck in front of her face.

Gibbs watched in amusement as the girls shook hands, the most serious looks across their faces.

“And the loser has to eat a booger!” Timmy chimed in, laughing.

Abby and Katie both wrinkled their noses as they looked at Timmy.

“Gross!” Abby exclaimed.

“Why do you always say that when someone makes a bet?” Katie asked in annoyance. “No one is gonna eat a booger!”

Timmy frowned. “Well then what’s the point?”

“Yeah! Bets always end in eat’ed boogers!” Tony nodded, a smile from ear to ear.

Jimmy giggled from his position next to Ducky as he ate spaghetti with his hands. “Sometimes eat’ed worms,” he pointed out.

Katie and Abby both wrinkled their noses. “Boys are gross!” they agreed.

All three boys burst with laughter. Even Ducky and Gibbs were chucking. Katie rolled her eyes and finished her spaghetti in silence. Abby just giggled with the rest of them when she couldn’t keep a straight face anymore.

Dinner was finished without any huge fights, and all five kids rushed into the living room afterwards to play.

“We should play wizards!” Abby proclaimed, taking a long stick with a pink heart on the end and holding it in the air. “I get to be Hermione!”

Katie rolled her eyes. “Can I be myself but a wizard?” she asked hopefully. “You _always_ get to be Hermione.”

“I called it so, nya!” Abby stuck out her tongue then turned to Timmy, Tony, and Jimmy. “Timmy’s gonna be Harry and Tony’ll be Ron! And Jimmy, you can be whoever you want!”

Jimmy screwed up his face. “But magic isn’t real, so why pretend it is?” he protested.

“It's a game, Jimmy! You're supposed to pretend!” Abby smiled, holding her wand out to the younger boy. “Here! You can be Headmaster Dumbledore!”

Jimmy looked at the wand in his hand, then up at Abby. “What am I supposed to do with this?” he asked.

Tony burst out laughing and Timmy smiled. “Have you ever played pretend before, Jimmy?” Timmy asked.

“No…” Jimmy said tentatively. “Not like this. Magic is bad.”

“Lemme guess,” Abby said, squinting her eyes and frowning. “That was this Joe guy again?”

Jimmy nodded his head. “Yeah, but he didn't really care. It was Rebecca that said magic is bad! She said all it does is hurt people!”

Timmy looked at Jimmy thoughtfully, before scooting closer to him and giving him a light hug. “Sometimes adults aren’t right and they say or do things to you because they just want their way. But not here. And Papa and Uncle Ducky have never said that playing pretend about anything is bad. Not even cops and robbers.”

“But Rebecca said--”

“Unless it was something about magic being cool and keeping your mind open, it wasn't true.” Abby said, sitting down in front of him and taking hold of his hands. “Magic is real, and it does some pretty cool stuff without us even knowing. Like bringing you to us!”

“Yeah!” Tony smiled. “And you being my age so I gots someone to play with!”

“And the fact that you forgave me when I hit you. I’m still sorry about that, by the way,” Timmy added.

“But that's not magic!” Jimmy said, shaking his head. “Those things just happened!”

“So you don't think that they happened for a reason?” Katie asked, one eyebrow higher than the other. “All of these things tailed right behind the other and it has nothing to do with anything else?”

“Rule number thirty-nine: there’s no such thing as coincidence.” Gibbs said as he walked into the room, opting to lean against the wall instead of impeding on the kids as they sat in a circle on the floor. “I know you're not one of mine, but you should start memorizing these, kiddo.”

Jimmy nodded. It probably would make a lot more sense when any of the agents would come down to autopsy and start spouting rules at each other that pertained to the case.

“But, that's not the same thing. All of the stuffs you guys are talking ‘bout isn't magic.” Jimmy’s hands were twisting around each other, eyes locked on the floor. His words were light and unconfident as he went on. “Magic is bad stuff.”

“What makes bad stuff bad?” Timmy asked, genuinely wondering.

“I...It hurts people,” Jimmy said. “And it brings up monsters and stuff like that in the middle of the night, and...I dunno, it just, it hurts people!”

“No it doesn't!” Abby said, taking Jimmy’s hands back. “It helps people and does lots of good stuff! Like making light to scare monsters away and healing people!”

“I think it does both?” Tony asked uncertainly . “Like...like the book Katie and you read with the wizards. Weren’ there monsters and heros that used magic?”

“Tony!” Abby sighed loudly. She was hoping no one would point that out, but now she had to bring that up, too. “Yeah, but those were bad people. It wasn’t bad magic. See the difference?”

Tony nodded. It made enough sense to him, but the question was if Jimmy believed it. “It’s how you use magic that can be bad,” Tony said. “Not magic itself. Right?”

“Yeah! See!” Abby looked between Tony and Jimmy, willing the look to transfer the understanding.

Jimmy bit his lip and looked at his hands, taking them back from Abby and twisting each other furiously. “If I play pretend magic...promise you won’t tell Rebecca.”

“Pinkie promise,” Abby said, holding out her pinkie.

All the kids put their pinkies on top of hers and Jimmy smiled, putting his on top of the stack. “Okay. So who’s headmaster Bumbledork?”

Abby and Katie went into a long-winded and highly detailed correction and explanation for Jimmy before they started playing. Gibbs followed along for all of two minutes before he gave up on all of the weird words and walked back into the kitchen.

“Palmer… Never would have thought he'd be like the others.” The man said, shaking his head in amusement as he sat on the counter.

Ducky wiped his hands on a towel as he finished the dishes and walked over to the other man, leaning against the counter. “Well, they do say people that don't even know each other will find each other because of similar interests.”

“Yeah, and where do they say that?” Gibbs laughed.

“According to Abby, the Internet,” Ducky said. “Incidentally, that’s where a lot of these people find each other as well.”

Gibbs shook his head. “I swear that girl knows more about the dark sides of the Internet than we know about the surface stuff.”

Ducky shrugged. “For all we know, that could be true. There’s no way to measure that unless you understand it first.” He sighed. “Jethro, I believe that Mister Palmer had an upbringing similar to that of Anthony’s or Timothy’s. I do worry about what he might do left to his own devices in situations like this.”

“If you’re asking for my permission to take him in, Duck, you don’t need it,” Gibbs said, watching the kids through the doorway. “I think that, with you, he’ll learn to be a bit more comfortable. Be himself, as horrifying as that might be in autopsy.”

Ducky chuckled. “It’s not Mister Palmer who needs my help to be himself. I’m more worried about Jimmy. He has a hard time following directions that he has a problem with, yet he fears punishment for the smallest of things. He thought he would be in trouble for chewing on his toy keys, Jethro! I don’t think this boy was permitted to be a child!”

“We can show him how, Duck. I wouldn’t worry. See, he’s already playing with the others.” Gibbs pointed to where Jimmy was waving Abby’s wand around in one hand and chewing on his keys in another. “Give him time and he’ll open up. Tony did, didn’t he?”

Ducky sighed. “You may be right. I certainly hope so.”

Gibbs stood up and turned to Ducky. “Should we go in there and make sure they don’t kill themselves or should we stay back here and do it?”

“Let’s allow them to play on their own. We can make sure they aren’t in danger and aren’t hurting anyone from back here. After all, and they seem like they’ve earned a little bit of freedom tonight,” Ducky replied.

“So what did happen that made you realize you were dealing with Jimmy and not Palmer?” Gibbs asked.

Ducky chuckled. “He was so overwhelmed that he lost any form of bladder control on the autopsy table where I gave him his rabies shot. A rather shocking realization, but still better than if we had been in real danger and I was informed in a position where I couldn’t help him.”

Gibbs nodded his head in understanding. “That would not have been good.”

The two men talked in the kitchen for another good hour until crying could be heard and they walked back into the living room. Timmy was rubbing at his eyes with Tony crying beside him, Abby and Katie looking annoyed at the boy’s wails and Jimmy trying to hold back tears of his own.

“What’s all this?” Gibbs asked, walking over to pick Tony up.

“I don’t know. Timmy took the wand and Tony just started crying!” Abby said in a very agitated voice.

“It sounds like someone’s probably in need of some sleep,” Gibbs said, bouncing Tony and shushing him. “He’s just cranky because he stayed up late last night.”

“Nuh-uh!” Tony said, fisting at his eyes through tears.

“No~” Timmy whined, leaning back to flop onto the floor. “I don’t wanna go to bed!”

Jimmy sucked on his keys before pulling them out just long enough to say, “Well I’m tired, ‘cause I had’ta do lots today. I wanna go to bed.” He punctuated the sentence with a large yawn, having to close his eyes as his mouth grew wide, but they didn’t open afterwards.

“If you would like, Jethro, you’re welcome to stay here. I don’t think getting these three home will be an easy task when they’re like this.” Ducky offered, going over to pick Jimmy up. The boy snuggled right into the warmth with another yawn.

“You sure, Duck? I don’t want to do anything you’re not sure about.”

“I wouldn’t offer it if it wasn’t true, Jethro.” Ducky chuckled. “Come on Abigail, Let’s show your cousins where they’ll be sleeping tonight.”

“Not tired.” Timmy reiterated, standing up all the same and following as the group walked upstairs.

Gibbs made a quick dash to the car with Tony in his arms , where he grabbed the three items his kids would never sleep without before rushing back in and following the rest of the group to the guest rooms.

“Dad, can Katie sleep in my room?” Abby asked, looking back at Katie to see if she liked the idea.

Katie’s face lit up. “Yeah, please! I don’t wanna be in the same room with the boys tonight! They eat boogers!”

“If it’s all right with Jethro, then you both can share the room,” Ducky said, nodding.

“I don’t mind. Might be best to keep them apart in case one of the younger ones wakes up. Dealing with tired agents is nearly as bad as dealing with tired kids.” Gibbs smiled as the words went right over the young kid’s heads.

The girls cheered and hugged Gibbs, being mindful of Tony before heading into Abby’s room. Gibbs and Ducky led the three boys into an open guest room with two twin beds. “I have an air mattress we can use, which one of you wouldn’t mind sleeping on it tonight?” he asked.

Timmy raised his hand. “I can do it.”

“Thank you, dear boy,” Ducky said, pulling the air mattress out of the closet and beginning to inflate it. The small motor roared to life, a solid rrrrrrr sound drowning out any words as Gibbs checked to make sure Tony was dry. Once that was done, he placed the boy into one of the beds and gave him the pacifier he had been holding in his free hand.

Ducky tucked Jimmy into the other, pushing the boy’s hair away from his forehead to plant a soft kiss there. Gibbs shut off the air pump and pulled out an extra set of sheets to make the bed with a quilt on top. 

Timmy whined and said “‘M not tired, Papa,” before his eyes closed and he started dozing on his feet.

Gibbs chuckled. “I can see that.” He picked Timmy up and tucked him into his make-shift bed, security blanket placed in the boy's arms in case he woke up.

Katie came to the door looked slightly alarmed and nervous, and Gibbs silently held out her Pooky. “Of course I remembered,” he said quietly. “Go on and get some sleep.”

Katie smiled, taking the stuffed animal and leaning in for a hug. “‘Night, Dad.”

Gibbs kissed her forehead. “‘Night, Katydid.”

Ducky and Gibbs walked out of the room, making sure to leave the door cracked as Katie ran back to Abby’s room. Ducky led Gibbs to the last guest room in the row, opening the door and turning on the light to show a furnished room with a queen size bed centered between two nightstands.

“And here is where you can retire for the night, Jethro,” Ducky said.

Gibbs nodded. “Thanks, Duck.”

Ducky waved his thanks off with his right hand. “You would do--have done, in fact--the same thing for Abigail and me.”

Gibbs walked into the room and sat down on the bed, hoping that he could hear if the boys woke up in the next room, but also hoping that Katie and Abby wouldn’t.

Ducky retired to his room once everybody else was in theirs, and within ten minutes the entire house was asleep.


End file.
